Nairobi
Quick Specs Full Description: APS “Nairobi” Class Courier Manufacturer: Advanced Propulsion Systems Environment: Space Function: Courier Vessel (APS Experimental Craft) Background Developed by the smaller research company, Advanced Propulsion Systems (APS), the Nairobi class courier vessel is only just emerging from the experimental stages. While a number of shipyards are working on antimatter drive technology, APS has managed to develop (largely through a series of lucky breakthroughs) are hyper-advanced form of the drive. With acceleration comparable to atmospheric chemical rockets, and a delta-V efficiency beyond many of the fusion drives typically in use, it’s clear that APS could be a very wealthy company in the very near future. For the time being APS has given a limited production licence to the Nayton Engineering owned Bobal Shipyards in the Shen Kuo system. With the hull produced by the shipyards and key components produced by APS themselves, the ship is arguably the fastest in Republic space, possibly even Conclave space with the exception of interstellar craft. Of course, APS is somewhat paranoid about someone stealing their designs, so most of this is conducted in secrecy, with only a few trusted captains affiliated to minor companies (or even freelance companies) allowed to test the ship. APS is now ready to test the drive under normal circumstances and would like to see it in regular operation with a particular crew. Unfortunately, the major drawback is that they want one of their physicists on the crew as well, in order to monitor the drive as well as their revolutionary new antimatter power plant design. Only a few of these have been made, and the hefty price tag is often a disincentive - particularly when its considered that APS still wants to keep tabs on it. Advanced Specifications Main Other Statistics Length: 50 yards Hull Classification: Unstreamlined Typical Combat Scale: Standard 3-minute Additional Features: Artificial Gravity, Emergency Ejection Requisite Skill: Piloting (Low-Performance Spacecraft) Additional Features Emergency Ejection System The emergency ejection is a safety measure that APS required to be installed into the design for the Nairobi. It consists of a series of sealing hatches and pressure bulkheads around the command centre that allow it to be ejected from craft quickly and be used as a lifeboat for any that are on board. They always like to point this out as a useful feature, but the reason is because of the experimental nature of the drive. Antimatter engines produce a lot of energy and just about every antimatter system on the ship is volatile, likely causing considerable damage and possible intense radiation bursts should it detonate. The EES attempts to get the crew as far away from any “catastrophic engine failures” as possible. Operational Test and Evaluation Labratory To assist in the running of both the engines and the power core, APS have installed a physics laboratory onto the vessel to allow for the monitoring of the antimatter reactor and engine systems. They strongly prefer to have their own people crew this section in order to feed information back into their R&D programs, but may settle if one of the established crew can be brought up to speed (and files regular data reports). They will not allow purchases where this is subcontracted to a third-party company. Running Costs Note that a few of the systems have a higher TL (notably the engine and the power-plant). These will cause Technology Modifiers if they are used with a lower-level TL skill and may raise the ire of APS over the new owners poking around in what they still regard as their shit. Fuel Antimatter-boosted hydrogen isn’t that common, but a few (major) shipyards do carry it (APS isn’t the only company testing running antimatter drives, theirs is just better). Unfortunately, it’s difficult to produce, with only a few colonies being able to summon up the energy and expertise required to do so. This can cause a range of prices, with the cheapest coming straight from the manufacturer (APS gets its own at $30,000/ton directly from the solar research laboratories on Huõkàng in the Shen Kuo system) with the cost increasing the further you get from these stations. A delivery to a port that doesn’t stock your fuel can cost up $1,000,000/ton or more, though this is generally only a problem in the remoter colonies. Ammunition As a well-armed ship, the ''Nairobi ''uses some standard ammunitions. These, of course, cost money. This cost is $100K per ton for the gun ammunition, and $1M per ton for missiles. What varies is how much you get per ton. For the 32cm Launcher at the front of the vessel, you’ll only get 1 missile per ton (they typically use heavy metals and sophisticated explosive systems), so each shot of that weapon costs $1M. For the turret mounted 7cm ECM guns on the central hull, 1 ton will get you 250 shots. It is possible to buy either or both of these weapons as cargo in order to maintain supplies. Category:Starships Category:Pages needing expansion